FF #7Review

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Black Bolt's return to the throne continues.

By Erik Norris

Man, I could have sworn this series was about the Future Foundation, not Black Bolt's return to his empire. Unfortunately, that's been the case for the last two issues. The ongoing plot about the Future Foundation and their truce with a league of villains trying to stop a rogue Reed Richards has all but ceased to exist in favor of Black Bolt's return to the Marvel universe. Because these past two issues have completely sidetracked the main ongoing narrative, there's definitely a sense of the wheels having come off the train. This is even more disappointing when you stop to consider that FF was one of Marvel's best titles before Black Bolt made his overbearing presence known.

The real kicker here is that Jonathan Hickman does manage to write the hell out of this issue. The interaction between characters and overall drama is top notch. If the goal was to make Black Bolt's return an epic spectacle, then Hickman has succeeded. But that doesn't change the fact that these past two issues feel like fish out of water when placed alongside the five issues that preceded them. It might be important that Black Bolt is returning, but to completely leave behind the main storyline to instead expand on this subplot in excruciating detail is baffling.

I'm also finding myself back in the "hater" crowd of artist Greg Tocchini's work. Even with the aid of Paul Mounts' bright colors, Tocchini's artwork still feels lazy. While some might dig Tocchini's styled pencils, there's no looking past the fact that nearly every panel looks phoned in.

While it's clear that these two Black Bolt-centric issues will eventually tie in to the main narrative of FF -- Hickman is too good of a writer to not make that happen -- it's still frustrating that they have completely derailed the series' forward momentum. Let's pray things are set back on track next month.

FF [2011] #7

The Return of the King. Black Bolt is back and is determined to reclaim his throne.